At 04:45 PM 7/10/03 +0200, Thomas Shaddack wrote:

run stripped-down Linux? Maybe something based on ARM or MIPS architecture?)

I'm familiar with 100 Mhz 32b MIPS cores that cost about $10 and include 2 ethernet i/faces. Intended for cheap SOHO routers, etc. Newer variants include IPsec support (e.g., a DES engine) for the same price. They'll run Linux. ARM's advantage is in power consumption, AFAIK, which doesn't always matter. I can see other reasons for hacking an answering machine ---encrypting stored messages, implementing/augmenting your own DTMF decision tree, allowing some to leave longer messages than others, even machines that call another number to forward. (I once worked on a commercial system that implemented a POTS i/f as boards in a Wintel machine, its (perhaps now extinct) niche was cheapening international phone calls.) Cheapo fax/soundcards are able to do ring detection, pick up, etc. Probably a fun project, the POTS i/f won't go away soon.